A 27-year-old mechanic is facing a hospital bill of more than $300,000 after falling ill on vacation in the United States.Two weeks ago, Dandre Outerbridge, who works for Correia Construction, developed symptoms of viral encephalitis, a form of meningitis that attacks the central nervous system, while celebrating the birthday of a friend in Florida. Mr Outerbridge’s father, Andre Woods, and mother Jeanna Scott, who lives in Illinois, rushed to his bedside. His parents were shocked to learn that Mr Outerbridge’s insurance did not cover emergency treatment overseas without a referral from a doctor in Bermuda.Ms Scott, a former teacher at T N Tatem Middle School, said: “As of last week Wednesday alone his hospital bill was $211,000.”Mr Outerbridge was in intensive care last night, on a ventilator and being given a spectrum of antibiotics to treat the as yet unidentified form of viral encephalitis.His mother said: “We can guarantee that this next week will be in the $300,000 bracket and that is not including the specialists.“That is just his hospital stay. We don’t know what damage it has done to his central nervous system.”For now Ms Scott said everything is “day by day” for Mr Outerbridge.Friends have set up a Go Fund Me page for Mr Outerbridge to help raise much needed money.His family hope to sell inspirational wrist bands and Christmas wreathes, but Ms Scott said there was not much she and his father could do at the moment because they need to with their son.